Car-mover for tunnel-kilns



P. A. MEEHAN.

' CAR MOVER FOR TUNNEL KILNS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 29. 1919. L

Patented J 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

. wnewwo Wot/Mi (2/ ovum VTQW a M WM w w W Ad P. A. MEEHAN,

CAR MOVER FOR TUNNEL KILNS.

APPLICATlON HLED OCT. 29. 1919. 1' 1 W gggh g%g Patantea 5m b, M250. 2SHEETS SHEEI 2- PAUL A. MEEHAE, 035 NEW CASTLE, PENN SYL'l/rlrill 1.65.,ASSIGNOB T9 AMERICAN DEESELER TUNNEL KIELNS, ING, OF NEW 'lf'fllitlil, NK, A CORPQRATION OF NEW YUEK.

To all who/n may col were.

Be it known that 1, Pain. A. hirer-iiiis citizen of the United States,and resident New Castle, in the county of Lawrence and State ofPennsylvania, have invented oertein new and useful improvements in. CarMovers for ilunnel-Kilns, of which the following is e. specification.

My present invention relates to tunnel kilns of the type in which thegoods to he treated by the kiln are mounted on trucks or cars a train ofwhich normally fills the kiln or the body portion thereof and this trainis periodically advanced a car length at a time as fresh cars are.inserted one after another at the entrance end of the kiln, by some sortof our pushing mechanism which ordinarily engages the rear cor oi thetrain.

, In kilns of this character it is "frequently necessary to advance theforward car of the train to separate it from the main train oi carsbehind it and by means of which it has been brought into its forwardposition. For example, in many tunnel kilns the :lorwerd goods carryingcar of the train must he so arated from the lhitlfi of the trein at theexit end of the kiln in order to ren'love this forward car from themolin stationery track in the kiln onto a movable track mounted on etransfer or turn table preparotorv to moving the forward car laterallyawe}; iroin the kiln. Vaherc the kiln has at its exit end an exitchamber with an egress door from this chamber to the externalatmosphere, and a second door between the chem-- her and the body of thekiln so as to vide an air look permitting the removal of cars Withoutestablishing free coinniunicetion at any time between the body of thekiln and the external atmosphere, it is necessary to advance th forwardcar and separate it from thelood i' of t e train of cars in order topermit the closure of the door between it chamber and the body of thekiln after the forward car has been moved into the exit chamber.

The general object of present invei tion is to provide simple andefieeti'vc insane for separating a forward car "from the fol lowing carsof the train moving through the tunnel lriln when conditions such cstionof Letters 1 or the escape of the kiln atmosphere to the externalatmosphere. Adventsgeously I may provide means actuated by the movementoi"? the cars for indicating when the ear advancing; means should beoperated on Where the cor advancing means are power actuated I mayprovide automatic means for setting the cor advancing means intooperation end for stopping its operation I'FlEQRO Bl the mo ement of thecars rushes this desirable.

The Vz'i'iiods features of nov lty which characterize in; invention arepointed out with. particularity in the claims annexed to and forming itpart this specification. For a better understeiidin of the invention,however, and the advantages possessed by it reference should be loud tothe accompanying drawings and descriptive ineiiter in which I haveillustrated and described various embodiments of my invention.

Of? the drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of :2. typical kilnarrangement in which my invention may he employed.

E2 s ionsl play i. a portion of the apparatus ion in. l.

3 is en eleretioru mrtly in section, of ii poriion oi the zippurotusshown in his; 1.

Fig. e-

a View taken similarly to 3 illustrating e. modification. i

i 't plan View illust ting e detail "truction eun'iLoyed' in l G is sView siren. similarly to Fig. 2 fiizg modi on. 7 so elem i of a portionof the ns shown l b eviii tsiren Sllnllflllj? to Fig 7 inganother 11:ulificatio-n and 9 is s Vi w also taken sii'uilorly to illustratingstill another modifiesin the conventional kiln representation or lflg.:i represent-s the kiln proper and chamber and 6 represents a verticalmovable entrance door at the side of the antechamher. A transfer tasblef movable along the track brings the goods carrying cars C from thereturn trash 1 into the antechamher of the kiln, when the ehtrance door6 is open. A. pusher it comprising a hydrau- -lic cylinder or othermotor oi? known typeis employed to move the cars C successivelyintroduced into the antechainber,' oil the a the kiln.

.ating handle 15?.

transfer table and into the body of the kiln and to thereby push forwardthe train of cars C normally filling the body of the kiln a car lengtheach time a car is brought into the antechamberand the device 'is setinto operation, The device H comprises a pusher rod H proper passingthrough a suitable stalling box in the end wall of the antechamber atthe forward or exit end of fit the "forward end of the kiln there is anexit chamber separated from the body or the kiln by a vertically movabledoor l) and provided with" a lateral outlet door E. The forwardcar inthe train of cars in the body of the kiln is periodically moved past thedoor l) with the latter in its open position onto a transfer table 'Fafter which the door D is closed and the door E opened and the transfertable then moved along the track rails G to bring the car into theposition from which it may be moved oil the transfer table onto thereturn track 1. Subsequently the turn table F is returned to the exitchamber, the door E is closed and the door D is opened so that the thenforward car in the train may be moved onto the transfer'table- Themechanism provided in accordance with present invention as shown inFigs. 1. t2 and 3 for separating the forward car (3 from the train ofcars 0 filling the body oil the lriln and advancing this forward car tocenter it on the transfer table F, cornprises. a reciprocating element Kpassing through a stufiing hot: or hearing A in the end wall of thekiln. The bar K is formed at its inner end with a hook K adapted toengage the rear side of a lug-"C formed on the under side of the carbody when the hook: is raised as shown in Fig. 2. The bar K may berotated however to turn the hook into a horizontal position and therebyto permit the passage of the hook beneath the lug C preparatory toengaging the latter. To rotate the bar K the latter is providedexternally of the kiln with an oper- To reciprocate the bar K the latteris swiveled to a reciprocating element in the shape or a rack bar formin; a part of a jack L shown as comprising gearing and a crank arm Lfor'manual actuation.

reac es apparent from the foregoing description, With the, transfertable F in place in the exit chamber and with the door D open andthedoor E closed, the forward car (lief the train of cars" is broughtinto the position shown in Fig. 2 in which it is partly on the transfertablttF and partly on. the stationary kiln. rails B." The bar K is thenmanipulatedto bring the hook K back or the lug C of the forward car asshown in Fig. 2. The device L is then operated to retract the bar it andtherebv advance the car '6 engaged bpthe hook K until the then frontwheels of the car engage the stops F- on the transfer table F. Thedoor-=1) is then closed. The apparatus in this stage is illustrated inFig. 2.' The door E is next opened and the transfer table F is moved tobring the car. resting" on it into an alinement with the transfer railsI and the car is moved onto the latter. Thereafter the transfer table Fis returnedto its position in the exit chal n her. the (1001' E" isclosed, and the doorD is opened whereupon the apparatus is in posi-vtion for a repetition of the. operation of advancing and removing fromthe kiln the to pass under the lug C and its subsequent engagement withthe lug G I may employ the automatically adjustable hook M shown inFigs. 4 and. 5. In this construction the op erating bar KA passingthrough the front wall of the kiln may be regarded as a nonrotatableextension of the bar K of the ap- {paratus shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.The hook member M is inthe form of a yoke pivoted to the her KA by thepivot pin M The hook Mis norina 1y gravity held in the position shown inFig. 4 in which the upper end of its legs ar in position to engage thelug C onthe car 0. It is prevented from turning in theCOIIHlJGIrfilOClIWlSB direction from this position by the'stop lugs Kcarried by the bar KA. "Lie hook M is free to turn in the clockwisedirection to permit its upper portions to slide under the car lug G whenthe bar'KA is moved inward to enas shown, the upper portion of the hookis beveled ed as indicated at M to facilitate tus shown in Figs. 6 and 7the bar KB is :Mgage a car to be advanced. Advantagously,

mounted wholly within the exit chamber of the kiln and is a rack barreciprocated by the rotation in opposit directions of the gear wheel Pin mesh with the bar and car'- ried by a rotating shaft P The latter projects through the side wall of the kiln and is externally gear-connectedto a driving motor Q shown as an electrical motor. With this apparatusit is possible to make the operation of the car advancing mechanismpurely automatic. For this purpose a switch is shown in Fig. 6 inposition to be actuated by th forward car C of the train of cars aswhich the door I) should be opened. The switch R is connected to theautomatic controller S for the motor Q and to start the motor Q inoperation when thus actuated a second switch R1 is actuated by a car Cmoved into the exit chamber when the lat ter comes into the position inwhich the door D may he closed. The switch R is connected to the motorcontroller S and serves when actuated to stop the motor Q. In theapparatus shown in Figs. 6 and '7 the kiln AA proper difl'ers from thekiln A pre viously described in having the doors D and. E bothtransverse to the kiln proper, the stationary track rails B extendingfrom the kiln through the antechamber to the exterior of the latger,

The apparatus shown, in Fig. 8 differs from that shown in Figsffi and 7in that the shaft P which may be driven as is the shaft P of Figs. 6 and7, carries a plurality of arms T. These engage the lugs C of successivecars CA. each giving the car engaged by it the necessary advancemovement on a quarter rotation of the shaft P The apparatus shown inFig. 9 dillers from that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 primarily in that'thebar V corresponding generally to the bar K of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 isreciprocated by means of a lever W connected by a link W to a fulcrumblock W secured to the end wall of the kiln. The lever W is adapted toengage a collar V carried' by the rod. The latter is formed with ahandle V by which the bar may be rotated to bring the hook lugs Vzi'nto,and out of the position in which they-straddl the car lugs C A lug V inposition to en age inner end of the stuffing box or bushlng A throughwhich bar V passes and thus limit the outward movement of the bar V andconsequently of a car engagedby the latter.

ile in accordance with the provisions of the statutes I have illustratedand described the best forms'of my invention, now known to me, it willbe "apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the.forms of the apparatus disclosed without departing from the spirit ofmy invention as set forth in the appended claims.-

Having now described my invention, what claim as new and desire tosecure by Let- :ers Patent, is:

the latter comes into position in.

. ing means at the oppo.

is also provided on the bar V whichconsists 1. In a tunnel kilncomprising a kiln proper, cars movable therethrough and means at one endof a section of the kiln for pushing successively presented cars andthereby a train of cars in the kiln section forward a car length eachtime a car is presented, the improvement which consists in means at theopposite end of the kiln section 1 or engaging a forward car of the,train and moving it away from the preceding cars comprising a carengaging de oz in the kiln and externally controlled opei atingmechanism for said device. v

2. In a tunnel kiln comprising a kiln proper, cars movable therethronghand means at one end of a section of the liln for pushing successivelypr need cars and thereby a train of cars f kiln. s ction forward a carlength each i sented, the improvement means at the opposite and forengaging a forward car oi train and moving it away from the pr cedingcars, comprising a car engaging device in the lriln an operating devicetmtside the kiln and a R connection between said through the kiln wall.

In a tunnel kiln comprising a kiln chamber, cars movable therethroughandmeans at the entru uce en d of a section of said chamber for pushingsuccessively presented cars into the section and therehy atrain of carsin the section a car lengtheach time a car is entered in devices passingL section for moving car lea transversely to their line or through thesection, the improvemcntwhich consists in. an operating device withinthe kiln for engaging a forward car of the train in the section andmoving it onto the. said transfer means, and externally controlledoperating means zt'or said device.

4.111 a tunnel kiln comprising a kiln chamber and a door serving whenclosed to separate the kiln chamber into sections, cars movablesuccessively throughlsaid kiln secadvancing the section and. havof thekiln the section movement tions. and means at the end of one section ofsaid chamber remote from said door for pushing shccesswely resented carsinto the section and thereby a vanclng a tram of carsv in thesection acar length each time a car is entered in the section, the improvement inan operating device located in th e kiln for periodically engaging theforward car of the past said door preceding cars and to permit thelatter to be closed between the carthusi'.

improvement which consistsin means for successively drawin cars out of akiln section comprising a train in the first? mentioned kiln sectionand-moving it away from ar projecting through lac the kilnwall-mlongltudinal alinemerfi; with Vania, this 23rd day of Octobr, A.-D.

said kiln'sectionland mgvable transversely 19.19. of its ength to c earan engage a-"car and l T JTIOViiblB longitudinally to draw forwarzl the.PAUL MEEHAL 5 car engaged by it. Witnesses:

Signed at city of New Castle, in the MARK L. BABINOVITZ, county ofLawrencev and State of Pennsyl- JQHN P. LOCKHART.

